Pandora's Box
by KamiByul
Summary: This one-shot is connected to my story The Devil You Know, and is set when Luna is nine. It briefly explores Luna's character before and after the incident with her mother, and provides insight into my view of her beliefs and how they were created. Please read and review! I'd like to know other people's thoughts on my interpretation.


**A/N:** I was having trouble imagining Luna's character so I decided to write a small back story on her that explains to me why she is the way she is. I hope it does the same for you guys! I would love your input! I hope you all enjoy it! Please have mercy on any editing mistakes you see, I'm not the best at it, as you all know .

This is set when Luna is nine.

* * *

Luna closed her eyes and breathed in a deep breath. Her pink lips pulled into a delicate smile as she smelt the nose tickling aroma of budding flowers. She ran her fingers through the cool thin wisps of grass that were beneath her. Her eyes drifted open slowly, revealing slate grey eyes that seemed to spin like a whirlpool. The wind gently blew past her, ruffling her dress, and sending golden locks of her hair across her face. She leaned forwards to look down at the meadow at the bottom of the hill she was on. She could see a buck that was stomping it's way through the field. She could almost smell the rustic musk emanating from its coarse hide, when she closed her eyes, she almost imagined she could hear it's heartbeat. 'One, two,' she spoke in time with the imagined thumps. Her eyes opened when she suddenly heard the pattering of feet against the ground.

'There you are.' Pandora sat down beside Luna. She reached out and took hold of her daughter's hand. 'Your father was looking for you.'

'He should have come outside.' Luna's voice was soft, it almost seemed to blend into her surroundings. If Pandora hadn't known her daughter's voice, she may have missed it.

'Yes, he should have.' Pandora laughed, it was a light, joyous laugh that would have easily made any cliché description worth it's overused words. 'Have you seen something interesting?'

'I've seen many interesting things.' Luna laid her head against her mother's shoulder. Her hair blended in with her mother's perfectly, so much so that it was impossible to decipher whose hair was whose. 'Mum, how many moments are in a day?'

'98,463,077,' Pandora said as she wrapped her arm around her daughter's slim frame. Her fingers brushed over her daughter's arm as she lightly drew designs onto the thin sleeve of the dress. 'There are 98,463,077 moments in a day. You have more than 98 million moments to make something from. You have more than 98 million moments to be spectacular, don't you.' It was formed like a question, but she said it so absolutely that Luna nodded her head fervently, agreeing with the statement.

'What are you doing with your moments, mum?' Luna asked as she played with her mother's free hand.

'I'm creating a spell, just you wait until you see it.' Pandora's lips curled into a smile as she put her head against her daughters.

'Is it beautiful?'

'Is it beautiful?' Pandora laughed and squeezed her daughter's hand. 'What kind of a question is that. Of course it will be beautiful. I'm making something _legendary_.'

'Everything you make is legendary,' Luna chirped as she snuggled closer into her mother's side.

'That, is obvious.' She smiled before tickling her daughter's side. Luna instantly started giggling and nuzzling her head into her mother's shoulder to try and stifle her laughter.

'This is where you two are,' Xenophilius said as he walked up behind his wife and daughter. His thin, pale lips were pulled into a serene smile as he took in the sight of his family.

'This is where we are,' Luna echoed as she got up and hugged her father.

'Are you going?' Pandora stood up and watched with a warm smile as her husband straightened the bows in Luna's pigtails.

'Yes, my class will start soon.' Xenophilius Lovegood, though a pureblood and not thoroughly acquainted with the muggle world, was taking a journalism course. It was his dream to start up his own magazine, and he planned to start it with a muggle journalism degree.

'You should hurry then.' Pandora watched with amusement as her husband took the moment to fix his cuffs and adjust the tie at the nape of his neck that held his long hair back. As he did so he muttered a celtic hymn under his breath, accentuating each movement he made with the song he was singing, as he always did when he left the house. Because she was his wife, Pandora had long gotten used to his daily rituals that was a precursor for both leaving the house, and making supper. In the past where she looked upon them in annoyance, she had taken to looking at them as quirks to appreciate, and had taught herself to enjoy her husband's interesting personality.

'Goodbye, daddy,' Luna chimed before walking away from them and to the house with a bounce in her step. Pandora watched her leave with an amused smile.

'Don't forget to wash your feet,' she called after her daughter when she caught sight of the ever-expected bare feet. Pandora nodded in approval after Luna called out a short answer.

'So,' Xenophilius wrapped his arms around his wife's waist and smiled at the sight of their daughter entering the house. 'What are you planning?' He asked as he looked down at her.

'Luna and I are going to make some art.' Pandora reached out, and with a delicate touch she brushed his startlingly light blonde hair out of his face.

'You won't get distracted will you?' He smiled and caressed her cheek. 'You did promise to make supper tonight.'

'Me? Of course not.' Giggles erupted from her mouth as she leaned in towards him then pressed her lips against his. She could feel his smile as his lips moved against hers.

'Now, Pandora.' His warm breath tickled her lips as he spoke. 'Don't open that box,' he said with a teasing lilt. He warned her, as he always did before he left, to not open the forbidden box that was centered in the Greek myth about the first human woman.

'Never.' She pecked him on the lips one final time. 'I love you Xenophilius, work hard and get that diploma.' He remained silent, instead he picked up his bag and put it on before he disappeared with a snap. Pandora stared at the spot he was at seconds ago with a smile before she set off towards her house. Her eyes drooped until they were only open enough that she could walk properly. Her lips quivered as hum erupted from her mouth, it sounded sweet, melodious, and rang with the emotions of an epic. She just knew that her spell would do wonderful things.

'Are you almost done?' Luna swung her feet as she sat on the seat that was too high for her. When she was a younger, Pandora had told Luna that swinging her feet would clear her mind and would help make time go faster. In reality, it was a method for her ever-excitable daughter to use up her seemingly endless amount of energy. But Luna believed her mother, and religiously swung her legs whenever she was waiting for time to pass in the hopes that time would pass faster.

'Almost,' Pandora said as she brushed her chalk covered hands together.

'What will it be?' Luna asked. She tilted her head and watched as her mother scratched new symbols into the large chalkboard that was lining the walls of the room.

'It will be something fantastic, it will be true _art_.' Pandora answered, a smile quirked at her lips, but it looked unrecognizable to Luna. There was something about her mother's expression that seemed foreign, unfamiliar.

'Mum, what is art?' Luna asked as she tilted her head, still swinging her feet.

'Art is something beautiful, it is the creation of something of higher significance,' Pandora said as she scrapped the chalk against the board with sharper, faster swipes. 'Art is the emotion that people feel shown through creations. Art is writing, it is drawing, it is handiworks, jewellery, photos, spells, life.' She trailed off, obviously still thinking hard about her spell.

'Are we art?' Luna questioned.

'Are we art?' Pandora smiled and laughed, repeating Luna's question instead of answering it. Instead of hounding her mother, Luna waited patiently for the answer. She watched as her mother took a step back from the blackboard. 'Do you want to see?'

'Yes,' Luna said.

'Then watch me,' Pandora said as she put down the chalk. She picked up her wand, ignoring the thin layer of white powder that covered it. Like she commanded, Luna observed her mother as she swiped her wand in concise movements and spoke with authority as she went through the latin requisite that accompanied her new spell.

Luna leaned forwards, her eyes sparked with understanding as she watched her mother close her eyes. Passion, her mother was passionate, her mother was the equivalent of her emotions and thoughts. Her mother was the stencil that traced the future of the lives of the people around her. Her mother was, quite obviously, art. The air in the room seemed to thicken with her epiphany before it reverberated, it was as if pressure that been pulled in towards her mother, then released itself with a burst of solid sound. Luna's small body flew across the room, her back hit the wall as her chair cracked and flew apart from the force.

'Mum?' Luna questioned, her head spun as she saw what she could have sworn were little white creatures disappear from around her mother's head. 'Mum?' She stumbled across the room, unable to keep her balance because of the way the room spun. Luna crawled over to her mother's collapsed body after she tripped and hit the floor. Her fingernails scraped against the cold wooden floors that she was dragging herself across.

Luna stopped in front of her mother and stared with narrowed silvery blue eyes as she took in the immobile form that was her mother. 'Mum?' She questioned again as she reached down and pressed her hand to her mother's cheek. Instantly Luna felt a shudder work it way up her arm, through her mind, than through the rest of her body. Her hand snapped back on it's own accord from the sudden feeling that had rushed through her body. So, hesitantly, she reached down and touched her mother again.

There was no response.

* * *

'Luna? Are you in here?' Xenophilius questioned as he walked into the house. 'Pandora?' The first thing he noticed was how dark the house was. None of the lights were on, and the kitchen was lacking any sign that his wife had been working on supper like she said she would. His lips curled into an amused smile as he walked to his wife's study. No doubt she had gotten distracted with her work again. He wasn't surprised she lost track of time, it wasn't like Luna would have helped her either. His daughter always worked on drawing while his wife worked, and was quick to get absorbed into her own world of entertainment and slow flowing time.

'Pandora,' he said with a playful tone, 'did you get distracted again?' He opened the door to the study and instantly froze when he took in the disarray the room was in. Some of the chairs were broken and far from the table. The countless papers and notebooks were splayed across the room, and the chalk on the board was half rubbed off from whatever had happened.

'Daddy, you're home?' Xenophilius breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw his daughter sit up from behind a stack of fallen notebooks.

'Yes, I am. Where's your mother?'

'She's here, but, she's not moving,' Luna frowned and looked down at the unmoving body of her mother. 'I wanted to leave her, but I was scared.'

'Why?' His voice shook as he approached her, as soon as he caught sight of his wife's still body he knew what had happened. There was only one reason why her vibrant eyes would stare at the ceiling so blankly. 'Luna, go to the floo, call St Mungo's.'

'Okay,' Luna slowly pushed herself up from the ground. 'Daddy, why is mum still asleep?'

'Luna.' His voice strained as he clenched his maroon coat.

'Yes, daddy.' Luna walked towards the door before she stopped and stared at him with serious eyes. 'Daddy, what are those?'

'What are what, sweetheart?' Xenophilius asked after clearing his throat, trying to clear the growing wave of emotions that were threatening to burst from his throat with a violent sob.

'Those things,' Luna went up on her tippy toes as she pointed at his ears where she could see little white things moving around his head, much like what she had seen leave her mother when she had fallen asleep. 'What are they?'

'What are they?' He tried to look where she was pointing, but was confused to find nothing there. Instead of telling her the truth, his lips pulled into a quivering smile. 'You don't know what they are?' He crouched down and gently placed his hands on her hips. 'They're called wrackspurts, you see? They float into your brain and make it all fuzzy,' Xenophilius laughed, though it sounded more like a cough. 'I must be tired if you see them all around, hm?' The lies spilled out of his lips as he said the first thing that came to him.

'Then mum must be very clear in her thinking. I haven't seen them around her since she fell asleep,' Luna announced. Despite sounded so resolute, her voice sounded far-off as she recalled the moment when she saw all of the little white creatures leave her mother's head. She didn't know where they went, they just disappeared. Xenophilius gasped as he tried to keep breathing regularly. 'I'll go,' she said as she walked out of the room.

There was a moment in which he stared after his daughter, conflicted with the strange things he had just heard. Suddenly, he wondered if she was scared because her mother wasn't waking up, or because she was seeing other _things_. All thoughts regarding his daughter emptied from his mind when he looked at Pandora. Xenophilius cried out and collapsed by his wife's dead body, instantly consumed with body-weakening emotions. 'What happened? What box did you open?' He wept as he curled into a ball by his wife's side. 'Why did you have to open it?' He clutched her cold shoulders as he lowered his head until his forehead was against hers. 'Pandora,' he said weakly, 'Pandora.' His fingers curled in tighter. 'Why did you leave us?' He always knew it would happen, that her experiments would kill her, but he never imagined it would be so soon.

'Daddy? They're sending someone over,' Luna said, her words announced her arrival in the room. 'Why are you crying? Daddy?' She stepped towards her father with slow, hesitant steps. As she took in the scene of her father clutching the motionless body that was once her mother, something in her mind clicked, instantly, she understood. Her head tilted so suddenly that it was like she was a puppet, and her handler had cut the string that held her head up. In silence she watched her father cry over her mother.


End file.
